A Mesmerizing Timelapse Shows Just How Essential Public Transit Is to Zurich

I don’t think filmmaker Alessandro Della Bella intended to make a video about transit in Zurich, but trains, trams, streetcars and the people who ride them are the clear stars in this hyper-fun time-lapse video.

Frenetic Zurich is one of three videos so far in a larger work. Says Della Bella about the project as a whole:

'Helvetia by Night’ is a time-lapse project about Switzerland by night. Short videos of long nights present you the stunning beauty of the Swiss Alps and show you the magic of a spectacular nighttime sky. Imagine watching a slide-show at fast speed or looking at a flip book. It is photography turning into a movie. Everything in the videos is real and happening out there while most of us are sleeping.

You won’t see the Alps in this one, but you will definitely see urbanism in action. Enjoy:

This post originally appeared on the NRDC's Switchboard blog, an Atlantic partner site.

About the Author

Kaid Benfield is the director of the Sustainable Communities and Smart Growth program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, co-founder of the LEED for Neighborhood Development rating system, and co-founder of Smart Growth America.
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Kaid Benfield is the director of the Sustainable Communities
and Smart Growth program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, co-founder
of the LEED for Neighborhood Development rating system, and co-founder of Smart
Growth America. He is the author or co-author of Once There
Were Greenfields (NRDC 1999), Solving
Sprawl (Island Press 2001), Smart Growth
In a Changing World (APA Planners Press 2007), and Green Community (APA Planners Press 2009). In 2009,
Kaid was voted one of the "top urban thinkers" on Planetizen.com, and
he was named one of "the most influential people in sustainable planning
and development" in 2010 by the Partnership for Sustainable Communities.
He blogs at NRDC's Switchboard.